The Feniks Herald
Squad30 Dec 2030
34 days out for Roman Sudakov after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Feniks will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market30 Dec 2030
Viktor Vanat puts it in writing
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Feniks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings30 Dec 2030
Marley Wilson runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market30 Dec 2030
Tsvetan Manolev is on his way
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Feniks is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Defences have started doubling up on Chris Popov
14 goals and a season average of 7.32 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Tempers go at Feniks
Marley Wilson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match28 Dec 2030
Whatever happens, Feniks do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad30 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Feniks
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yehor Hunichev was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match28 Dec 2030
Feniks hit back inside 1 minutes
Vorskla held the lead for 1 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Feniks answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
In brief
- Match After 4 games, Feniks finally taste it again
- The dugout The team sheet said everything about Ahmed Abubakarov
- Match Chris Popov rescues a point for Feniks